Phey started working in the
Malaysia–Singapore Airlines (MSA) as an accounts clerk. While working at MSA, Phey began to suffer from hearing loss due to him working at the airport where there was high levels of noise. When he was promoted to be a planning officer in the production and planning department of MSA, he joined its union, Singapore Air Transport Union (SATU) and was elected into SATU's executive committee in 1960. and finally the president position in 1968.
Labour career Devan Nair took notice of him in 1969, and under Devan's mentorship, Phey also became the General Secretary of two other prominent unions, Singapore Industrial Labour Organisation (SILO) and Pioneer Industries Employees' Union (PIEU) by 1970. Phey also became the president of
National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) in the same year. By then, he was also promoted into the planning division of
Singapore Airlines, the Singapore successor of MSA. In November 1969, Phey was slashed in the thigh while leaving the Union House located on Beng Wan Road. On 21 July 1970, he was again slashed by four men over union infighting at Stirling Road, which left him with a 7.5 cm scar on his face. Under Phey's leadership, SILO grew its membership from 4,000 to 12,000 within a year, and acquired a headquarters for $210,000 in 1971. On 25 May 1979, Phey became the chairman of NTUC. In mid-1979, the
Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) launched an investigation into Phey over alleged malpractices in SILO and PIEU. Nair, now the president of NTUC, was appointed as the acting general secretary for SILO and PIEU. Phey was formally charged on 10 December on two counts of the laws introduced in the 1977 amendments, over the abovementioned share purchases, and on four additional counts of criminal breach of trust. However, Phey did not turn up in court, which led to $95,000 of the bail money being forfeited. Phey was last seen in Singapore on 31 December 1979 by his family members, and could not be contacted since then. His passport had not been surrendered and was valid for travel, as he had not shown that he was about, or intended, to flee Singapore. He was thus placed on
Interpol's wanted list, while his passport was cancelled. In a Parliament session on 12 March 1984, it was revealed that the total money lost by the unions and union-related enterprises between 1975 and 1979 was $704,173.93. Of the lost money, $557,864.76 had been recovered. While on the run in Thailand, Phey worked odd jobs to support himself and had no permanent address as he had no form of identification with him. On his return, Phey was completely blind in his right eye and suffered from severe hearing impairment. On 22 June 2015, Phey turned himself in at the Singapore Embassy in Bangkok. The sentence was backdated to when he was first remanded on 23 June 2015. On 24 October 2019, he was placed under the
Singapore Prison Service's Home Detention Scheme (HDS) after he was deemed suitable for it. The HDS allowed prisoners to serve the remainder of their sentences in the community, under supervision. Officials associated with Phey in the various trade unions were implicated in this case, with ten faced charges of ranging from criminal breach of trust to abetting after CPIB had conducted further investigations. By 1982, both SILO and PIEU were broken up and restructured by a task force from NTUC into nine industrial unions. In 1984, SATU was also dissolved into three house unions. Phey was dismissed from his president post in the Singapore Amateur Boxing Association and
Singapore Bus Service. An annual popular invitational basketball tournament, in Phey's namesake, which was first held in 1976 by SATU, SILO and PIEU, was cancelled in 1980.
Political career Phey entered politics in the
1972 general election under the PAP banner for
Boon Teck constituency, and won 66.8% of the vote. He attributed his win by saying that many in the constituency were members of SILO and PIEU. Phey had applied for a leave of absence from the
Parliament of Singapore and it was granted on 4 January 1980. Despite calls for a by-election, the seat remained vacant until the
general election at the end of the year. == Personal life ==